The socialist government of Fuenlabrada awarded a minor contract of €17,545 to Kreab in June 2020, the consultancy that paid José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero €1.5 million between 2015 and 2025. The amount, just below the threshold of €15,000, allowed the City Council to choose the beneficiary directly.
The City Council of Fuenlabrada, governed by the PSOE, granted a minor contract to the consultancy Kreab during the pandemic, the same one that paid €1.5 million to former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero over a decade. The file, approved on June 2, 2020, amounted to €17,545 (€14,500 plus VAT), just below the €15,000 threshold that separates a minor contract from one subject to greater scrutiny.
The contract, intended for a "campaign to promote commerce and hospitality," was part of the support measures for local small businesses during the de-escalation of the first state of alarm. However, a review of municipal activity from that period finds no mention of Kreab as the author or collaborator of the campaigns launched, such as Alíate con Fuenlabrada or the QR code app for hospitality.
A minor contract with no trace of results
In minor contracts, the City Council freely chooses which companies to invite and which one is awarded the contract. In this case, according to municipal documentation, three bidders participated in the process, but neither their identities nor their offers are included in the public file. The final amount, €17,545, is strategically positioned just below the €15,000 taxable base threshold that would require a more demanding procedure.
Kreab's usual activity is not that of a direct provider of municipal campaigns, but rather advising large companies like BBVA, Repsol, or Iberdrola in their relations with public administrations. In fact, the consultancy is known for having hired Zapatero as a senior advisor exclusively for Spain, with an annual salary of around €150,000, amounting to €1.5 million between 2015 and 2025.
According to sources from the investigation, the UDEF has recorded 62 transfers from Kreab to the former president totaling €956,180 just between 2020 and 2025.
This relationship ended in 2025 when Kreab discovered that Zapatero was combining his exclusivity with paid work for Análisis Relevante, a company implicated in the Plus Ultra case, which investigates the former president for alleged influence peddling and money laundering.
Fuenlabrada under scrutiny for corruption
This is not the first time Fuenlabrada has appeared in investigations regarding alleged corruption linked to the PSOE. Last June, among the notes attributed to Leire Díez —investigated by the UCO for alleged rigging of public contracts and influence peddling— was the name of Fuenlabrada alongside the note "gardens and daily cleaning," in a list of Madrid municipalities governed by socialists.
The Popular Party raised this issue at the municipal plenary, where the mayor, Javier Ayala, preferred not to respond, including to the question of whether Fuenlabrada would not end up linked to these plots. The silence of the mayor contrasts with the demand for transparency from the opposition.
For the residents of Fuenlabrada, this news represents a new reason for skepticism about the management of public resources. While the City Council boasts of supporting local commerce, the details of this direct contract and the lack of visible results leave unanswered questions. The opposition has already announced that it will seek explanations at the next plenary.
